Sadness alone does not make me cry, no matter how sad. Heartbreak alone does not make me cry, no matter how devastating. Death alone does not make me cry, no matter how much I liked the character. Romance or themes around romantic love typically do not make me cry. Romantic is italicized there for a reason, because for whatever reason platonic/familial love CAN make me cry.
Wholesome and/or joyous moments are what make me cry. It can be influenced/spurned by sadness or heartbreak, but it's that moment of relief and/or release of holding onto something negative, uncertain, or anxiety-inducing for so long that does the job for me. Some examples of what I'm talking about:
- Videos of soldiers returning home to their families, especially when those family members are their kids, siblings, parents, or pets. I've never been in the military nor have any of my direct family, but for whatever reason, this gets me.
- Videos of teens/young adults gifting their step parent adoption papers. I have very loving bio parents and step parents in my life, so despite not feeling a longing to fill a void of a missing parental slot, this still causes my heart to overflow with joy and gets the waterworks running.
- Didn't cry when Moana's grandma died at the beginning of the movie. DID cry when Moana's grandma's spirit visited her on the boat and gave her the confidence to go back and finish the job. This is a perfect example of "wholesome sadness" where the pain of loss is a critical factor, but the upwards inflection from down and out to revitalized and motivated is what does it for me.
- This is the one I understand the least, but the "funeral" which was conducted by (The Lord of the Rings spoiler ahead) Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli for Boromir's death. I didn't even like Boromir as a character, but something about the brotherhood and respect/honor shown by the other characters, and perhaps the accompanying song, made me well up a bit. It's not the sadness that got me, but the honor and camaraderie of it.
So, hit me with your best shot! I'm genuinely interested to see what you all can come up with.
by PsyferRL
8 Comments
*The Sharing Knife* by Lois McMaster Bujold. You will know the part that is for you when you get to it.
I don’t cry easily at books and I cry at many of the things you listed. I recently cried twice while reading How High We Go In The Dark. Even if it doesn’t make you cry it’s an incredible book.
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers, I cried like a baby with joy
Try *We All Want Impossible Things* by Catherine Newman.
Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa has the distinction of being one of the only series that makes me cry, despite disliking romance. The two main character are in an awkward and unclear relationship for multiple books, until finally they manage to admit their feelings to each other. The two of them are both very untrusting people, who have immense difficulty truly opening up to each other, despite suffering through a lot together. The books are each only about 200 pages, so it’s not much longer to get to that point than a standard length novel.
I also felt really emotional at the end of Squirrel Girl Universe by Tristan Palmgren. It’s a very silly book, but towards the end the themes of friendship and self sacrifice and moving on from bad situations culminate in a great way if you’re a big friendship believer. It’s like a children’s film aimed at adults– But in book form.
What You Can See From Here – Mariana Leky
The wild robot (full disclaimer haven’t read the book but the movie made me cry like no other. My combat veteran husband also cried). Idk how they deemed this a kids book/movie or maybe we’re just soft
They Both Die at The End by Adam Silvera and the two following books in the series! The first to die at the end and then the survivor wants to die at the end